Ron Paul: Liberty Was Also Attacked in Boston

Forced lockdown of a city. Militarized police riding tanks in the streets. Door-to-door armed searches without warrant. Families thrown out of their homes at gunpoint to be searched without probable cause. Businesses forced to close. Transport shut down.

These were not the scenes from a military coup in a far off banana republic, but rather the scenes just over a week ago in Boston as the United States got a taste of martial law. The ostensible reason for the military-style takeover of parts of Boston was that the accused perpetrator of a horrific crime was on the loose. The Boston bombing provided the opportunity for the government to turn what should have been a police investigation into a military-style occupation of an American city. This unprecedented move should frighten us as much or more than the attack itself.

What has been sadly forgotten in all the celebration of the capture of one suspect and the killing of his older brother is that the police state tactics in Boston did absolutely nothing to catch them. While the media crowed that the apprehension of the suspects was a triumph of the new surveillance state – and, predictably, many talking heads and Members of Congress called for even more government cameras pointed at the rest of us – the fact is none of this caught the suspect. Actually, it very nearly gave the suspect a chance to make a getaway.

The “shelter in place” command imposed by the governor of Massachusetts was lifted before the suspect was caught. Only after this police state move was ended did the owner of the boat go outside to check on his property, and in so doing discover the suspect.

No, the suspect was not discovered by the paramilitary troops terrorizing the public. He was discovered by a private citizen, who then placed a call to the police. And he was identified not by government surveillance cameras, but by private citizens who willingly shared their photographs with the police.

As journalist Tim Carney wrote last week:

“Law enforcement in Boston used cameras to ID the bombing suspects, but not police cameras. Instead, authorities asked the public to submit all photos and videos of the finish-line area to the FBI, just in case any of them had relevant images. The surveillance videos the FBI posted online of the suspects came from private businesses that use surveillance to punish and deter crime on their property.”

Sadly, we have been conditioned to believe that the job of the government is to keep us safe, but in reality the job of the government is to protect our liberties. Once the government decides that its role is to keep us safe, whether economically or physically, they can only do so by taking away our liberties. That is what happened in Boston.

Three people were killed in Boston and that is tragic. But what of the fact that over 40 persons are killed in the United States each day, and sometimes ten persons can be killed in one city on any given weekend? These cities are not locked-down by paramilitary police riding in tanks and pointing automatic weapons at innocent citizens.

This is unprecedented and is very dangerous. We must educate ourselves and others about our precious civil liberties to ensure that we never accept demands that we give up our Constitution so that the government can pretend to protect us.

I am a Libertarian, a Constitutionalist, and a Republican. If you are too, it should piss you off that an Anarchist masqueraded in your political coloration's. He's tying you to a bunch of Anarchists trash.

Anarchists are a repellent force, a stench that drives people away, and the establishment is trying to attach them to what people want, liberty.

I'm sorry you don't understand. I wish you did. They need to be dealt with.

Who's living in denial? Open your eyes. Ron Paul calls himself a Voluntarist. Voluntarism is called Anarchism. Those who advocate Anarchism are called Anarchists. Anarchists are frauds who know what they offer fails. They sell Communism as voluntary.

Ron Paul hangs out with Anarchists and Communists such as his long time friend and associate Lew Rockwell.

Wake up! He's a two faced fraud. He's had his chance to deny it, but he can't.

Wow your really in denial aren't you? You cant seem to admit the fact RP is not a Anarchist. And u sound like a paranoid maniac ranting about things you don't understand.. ha you even like your own comments. You would rather believe the delusional reality you've created for yourself, then look at the facts.

RP and his supporters are NOT Anarchist or Communist. No matter how many times you tell yourself that. Fact is hes more of a LIBERTARIAN which REQUIRES a GOVERNMENT. Do some Research bud.

"So if Ron Paul does a interview with Lew Rockwell, No it doesn't make rp a Anarcho-cap"

Lew Rockwell has been Ron Paul's close friend and associate for the past 40 years. He's NOT an Anarcho-Capitalist. He's an Anarchist.

He's the executor for the estate to the king of Anarchist trash Murray Rothbard. I wouldn't even share a beer with an Anarchist. They're repellent frauds and two faced liars who think they're surrounded by sheep, retards and imbeciles.

The fact that you call him Anarchist when hes obviously not, shows me your going to believe what you want to. I have a friend in Russia who is a communist.. that doesn't make me a communist. So if rp does a interview with Lew Rockwell, No it doesn't make rp a Anarcho-cap.

You scream Anarchist Anarchist! But fail to understand what that actually means. Rp has always supported a Limited government. Anarchist= No Government. Rp knows a government is necessary. Being paranoid clouds our judgement.

I know what' he tells people', but what he tells people doesn't make any sense. Look at the kind of frauds he hangs out with, Anarchists and Communists. If you can be honest about it, him saying Anarcho-Capitalism is his ultimate goal starts making sense.

He's a two faced fraud. I don't need to equivocate about Anarchism or try to use Anarchists to serve my purpose. They oppose my purpose and he can't be honest about it with his supporters, I can no longer support him.

You don't seem to know what an Anarchist is. They aren't hell bent on holding the country together, defending the Constitution, participating in self government or serving justice. They're freeloaders trying to "opt out" and destroy all of the above.

They're hell bent on breaking up the country, (sign any petitions for secession?) demonize the very idea of "a collective" (freedom, liberty, and their common defense?) and do nothing but spit on everything my forefathers created and stood for.

The only useful thing that's come from Ron Paul is to get people to start thinking about liberty, but what comes from it won't be Anarchism. Anarchists are a repellent force.

He should have been making the connection between liberty and justice, but like most Anarchists, he can't really talk about justice because justice is why we create governments in the first place, to defend liberty. Their BS falls apart. Anarchists think injustice originates from government.

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